News
New information panels at Thomas Mann bust
13 Apr 2023
Two new information panels flank the Thomas Mann bust in the hall named after the great German writer in LMU’s main building.
The panels elucidate Thomas Mann’s relationship with the university in a contemporary manner through the lens of “Thomas Mann and LMU” and “Thomas Mann and the White Rose.” In words and pictures, the panels explain, for example, how the writer and Nobel laureate gave many public addresses at LMU. The last of these was shortly before his exile, when he gave a lecture on the “Sufferings and Greatness of Richard Wagner,” on account of which he was subsequently denounced – including by LMU – and forced into exile. The panels also tell how in his Californian exile, Mann learned about the leaflets of the White Rose and the murder of their members by the Hitler regime and discussed them in his “German Listeners!” radio addresses. Moreover, the panels tease out the references and allusions to the Munich university and its role in National Socialism that pepper Mann’s great novel of exile Doctor Faustus, which was published in 1947.
"Thomas Mann and the LMU" and "Thomas Mann and the White Rose": the two information panels that now flank the Thomas Mann bust in the hall of the same name in the LMU main building are intended to provide information about Thomas Mann's relationship to the university in a contemporary way.
© LMU“This contemporary installation is a wonderful part of our commemorations surrounding the 80th anniversary of the execution of the Scholl siblings,” explains Dr. Sven Kuttner, Deputy Director of the University Library and Head of Special Collections. “We hope that the new information panels will awaken interest and awareness for this historical legacy of LMU among a young generation, for whom the Thomas Mann Hall is a popular hangout.”
In 2002, the former “North” exhibition hall was renamed the Thomas Mann Hall at the initiative of then Rector Prof. Andreas Heldrich. At that time, a Munich-based association for the promotion of the writer’s legacy – the Thomas-Mann-Förderkreis – managed to procure the bronze bust of Mann created by his publisher Dr. Gottfried Bermann Fischer. Initially, the bust was accompanied by a display cabinet presentation put together in collaboration with the university library.
Two decades later, the time was ripe to replace this presentation with contemporary information panels, which would also be suitable for a younger, more digitally oriented generation. By scanning a QR code, for example, people can now read the texts in English or consult the original sources of the newspaper articles, lecture passages, and leaflet excerpts shown in the panels.